Academic Jobs in CS in Germany and Switzerland


This is some information about jobs in Germany (and to some extent Switzerland)  informally compiled from faculty. This is not comprehensive, and only the parts that obviously contrast from the U.S. system are highlighted.  As always, check with your advisor and others to get the skinny on schools and strategize about your application process.

German academic system
Finding out about jobs
Job application
Interviewing
Language
Switzerland-specific information
Top-tier schools in CS in Germany and Switzerland

For more general information about the higher education system and research opportunities, see the European University Insitute Pages on Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

German Academic System

There is wide variation between individual universities' policies in Germany, so this is a very general overview. Germany has not traditionally had an assistant professor position.  Ph.D. students were expected to take a post-doc and then apply for tenured positions at the associate or full professor level.  This is changing somewhat, and many schools do have an assistant professor position.  This position is not tenured and is frequently not tenure track; that is, there is no guarantee that after several years of good service there will be an open, permanent professor position.

In general, an assistant professor position will not be guaranteed any funding for students.  An associate professor will have funding for 1 or more students and a full professor from 2-4, although getting permanent funding from the university for 4 students is rare.  This is something that can be negotiated a little; salaries are pretty fixed but the funding for graduate students can be increased.  At all ranks, professors generally have the same teaching load and are free to run their own research programs.

Universities differ greatly in the type of work environment.  Some are more focused on collaboration with industry.  Some teach in German, some allow teaching in English (or writing dissertations, etc).  Also, some departments are known to be more hierarchical than others.  For example, at TU Munich, associate professors report to a full professor. This means they may not always have complete freedom to determine their own research program.  This can vary greatly from university to university.

Some faculty recommend getting a post-doc at a quality institute and waiting and applying for associate-level positions.   Given the different career-track options, you should strategize with your advisor and others.

Finding out about jobs

Unlike in the U.S., where most applications deadlines are in December, a job opening in Germany may come up at any point in the year.  Traditionally, job seekers were expected to have Ph.D. in hand and several years of post-doc experience.  For new assistant professor-level positions, it may be possible to apply and say the Ph.D. is expected in 3-6 months.  This is also fine for post-doc positions.

There is no central listing for academic jobs at the professor or post-doc levels.  Many jobs from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria are listed on die Zeit.  The site is in German.  You can create a login for free and sign up to have the site send you periodic updates of jobs that match your search criteria.  Given the on-going availability of new jobs and the often short application deadline, start getting job opening updates early.

Job application

As in the U.S., the publication record and letters of recommendation are the most critical pieces of the job application.  Traditionally, research and teaching statements were not part of the application process, but including them in the application won't hurt.   These are documents that are optional, so it's one place you could customize your application to highlight ways you could specifically support the teaching or collaborate with others at a particular school.

CVs in German have a slightly different style from U.S. ones.  They often include a picture and some personal data like your birthday or place of birth. They may also include other information, such as marital status or religion.  It's fine to leave these off., but including at least the birthday is completely standard.

Some schools are interested in knowing about your experience in collaborating with industry, so having sections in your CV with projects led, people supervised, and funding can be useful.

Interviewing

When you're invited for an interview, you give a standard job talk which is less than 1 hour.  You will need to find out if it can be in English or German.  Afterwards, you sit down at a big conference table with faculty and they ask you general questions to determine how well you'll fit in with their department.  For example, why you applied there, how you think you'll contribute, what you can teach, your funding prospects etc.  They will also ask what you want from them, as in what kind of student funding you'd like, any special equipment etc.  You'll need to be prepared for these questions.  There is also an opportunity for you to ask questions of them about the departmental culture, how to get funding or stipends for your students, if there is support from a graduate school, etc.  There is room here also to negotiate start-up funding.

Language

The language depends on the university. UDS computer science particularly follows the U.S. model.  English is in everyday use in the CS department, and many courses are taught in English.  Other schools will expect you to give your job talk in German and/or be able to teach in German within a certain number of years. Find this out beforehand if it's an issue.

Switzerland-specific information

Like Germany, Switzerland has started to implement non-tenure-track assistant professor positions.  Some of these are just advertised as professor positions, and some may be funded by the Swiss National Science  Foundation but located at specific universities.  Job advertisements should clearly say whether or not the position is tenure-track. The non-tenure track positions cannot expect permanent employment.  In Switzerland, after 6 years an employee becomes a (more) permanent hire.  This impacts non-tenure track employees as well as graduate students. Graduate students are strongly encouraged to graduate in less than 6 years.  This can be a challenge for systems students, which often take longer, and can put pressure on professors to graduate students quickly. The Swiss schools by and large advertise in US venues (ACM etc.) and are on the US hiring schedule.  The interview consists of a visit with a job talk and interviews with the hiring committee, but not necessarily the wider department.  Post-docs are done at the discretion of a particular professor.

Top-tier schools

 This list just serves as a starting point. The links are to English-language websites for each department.

Germany top 3:  Saarland, TU Munich, Karlsruhe
Germany other good places: Aachen, TU Darmstadt, Freiburg
Switzerland top 2: ETH Zurich,  EPFL Lausanne (French-speaking)